


Not Such A Small World After All

by BellatrixDraven



Category: Falling Skies
Genre: AU, Gen, Lee doesn't die, everything is fine
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-03
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-12 17:11:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7942510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BellatrixDraven/pseuds/BellatrixDraven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU of Badlands, where Lee lives and nothing hurts, because honestly the Berserkers and Pope didn't deserve that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Hey, if I get out of this, you gotta take me somewhere." Lee says. Her voice is cracking, and her cheeks are stained with tears. Pope's a little glad that she can't see, he doesn't want her to know how much this hurts. Her last sights shouldn't have to be a hospital room, with a saline drip and shitty fluorescent lights and a thin sheet that looks like mint toothpaste flakes.   
"Yeah. Where do you wanna go?" He traces through her hair. Her face flickers with a grin for a heartbeat, and Pope feels a little lighter.  
"Disneyland." A perfect answer, full of hope and humor, just like she always had been. She smiles this time, a real smile as she almost laughs.  
"Disneyland?" He can settle for Disneyland.   
"We can steal a car. But a really nice one. And we'll take the kid."  
"Do you know his name?" Pope asks. He laces his fingers with hers.  
"Course I do. Let's go to Disneyland."  
"I can't go to Disneyland." He laughs. "I got in a fist fight with Goofy, not sure I'm welcome in the happiest place on earth."  
"C'mon John, you gotta."  
"Yeah? Why?"   
"It'll make me the happiest person on earth." Her voice trails off, and her fingers tense up for a moment. Pope's breath catches and he tightens his jaw. He's not going to cry, not until he's alone.   
"I promise." He whispers. He leans down and kisses her forehead. "We'll get there." He watches her relax into the pillow, and the IV pull on her hand again. His throat tightens, and he's close to crying, but he's going to get out of here first. "Promise Lee. We'll get you there."  
He ends up loosening his fingers from her grip before he breaks down. He pushes past the curtain and past the kid, past everyone and out to the Nest. He needs a drink, and he needs to do something reckless that Mason would hate. He's got to do something really reckless, and worthy of Crazy. Past the fluorescent lights, past the blue curtains. Out of the smell of bleach and saline and the sound of vicodine. He swipes the closest bottle of pain medication and leaves the hospital, throwing one filthy warning look at Lourdes who's complaint dies on her lips.  
Codone and whiskey sounds like the perfect antidote to what feels like a slowly breaking heart. With any luck, he won't even remember it in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, so whiskey isn't on the table. But he finds something that works, in a dusty bottle with a peeling label and cork that has to be pulled out with his teeth. Two pills and three swallows of bitter, fiery alcohol later, he's floating somewhere within himself. It's weird, he hasn't been high in years, and it's somewhere between pleasant and nauseating.  
"Fucking Disneyland." He has a dartboard set up across the room, and he fumbles to find something to throw. "Fucking cement bolts. Fucking Tom Mason and sending us out, not giving us a goddamn reason why we're at the borders, defending the place where nobody likes us." He throws a dart, and takes another swig of alcohol. "Fucking Lee, and she couldn't stay safe."  
He continues throwing darts until the wall is littered with holes and the bottle is empty. He wonders if he could hotwire a car and steal it tonight, carry Lee out of the hospital and drive. Maybe she wouldn't last until Florida, but they'd get out of fucking Charleston and they'd be okay.

"Pope?" somewhere there's a soft voice, too cautious and scared to be in his band of ruffians. He takes a moment to shake his head and try to clear the fog brought by the alcohol. He looks to the door, where the smallest Mason is standing, hunched inside his coat and looking tinier than ever.  
"Yeah kid?"  
"Is Lee going to die?"  
"Not if we can help it." Pope replies. "Hey, you wanna bust the town, when she gets better?"   
"What, you mean like run away?"   
"We'd come back, we'd just go on a trip first."   
"Where?"   
"Lee wanted to go somewhere when she's out of the hospital. I said yes. You in?"   
"Not sure if my dad will let me."   
"Not what I asked kid, I asked if you wanted to." Pope starts to take another swig but decides against it. Not with the kid around.   
"I- I don't know. I'd have to think about it, talk to Lee."   
"I get that," Pope says. He really does, the kid is great but also as nervous as a cat in room full of rocking chairs. He takes a swig anyway, trying to drown something inside him.  
"If I said yes, would you ask my dad?"   
"Hell no, he'd never let me take you somewhere. You can ask, and say you're going with Lee for a few days. Tom won't deny his son that."   
"You think?"   
"I know it kid. If he lets good ol' Hal sit with a gun and feel up Maggie whenever, and he lets spike boy go talk with some skitters, he's not going to say you can't be with your friends."   
"Yeah, but they're always within range, why would he let me go out of sight for a few days?"   
"You gotta know how to ask him Matt. Come here. Have a taste of this if you want." Pope opens his arms and motions forward, and after a moment, Matt comes to him. God he's dirty, and he's thin as a rail, and cold. He sits awkwardly next to Pope, and Pope wraps an arm around him. "Whatever you want Matt, I'll make sure it happens."   
"Don't suppose you can get the war to end?"   
"Well, I'm working on it." Pope says with a wry laugh. "Give me a few more months, those alien bastards will turn tail and run at the sight of us."   
"You think you can make sure Lee turns out alright?"

"I can goddamn guarantee it." Pope replies. "So, assuming your dad says yes, where do you want to go? Lee suggested the absurd idea of Disneyworld. You in?"  
"Never been, sounds fun." Matt says. "I think it would be nice, as soon as Lee is better?"  
"As soon as she's better or you want to bust the town. We'll be gone a week or so, having a blast and living off whatever we find in abandoned convenience stores. I've been craving a Sno-Ball."  
"It sounds good." Matt grins. "I probably oughtta go back to dad, but I'll tell you what he says. Thanks Pope." He starts to stand, wobbling a bit.  
"Kid, you're like sixty pounds soaking wet, you need to eat something."  
"Nah, others need it more, like our wounded." Matt shrugs. "Besides, the fighters like you need it so you don't get killed on patrol."  
"Eat something." Pope insists. "Or we can't take you anywhere."  
"Fine, fine. See you tomorrow Pope."


End file.
